And You Smile Because I Smirk

For those of you who may have missed this on facebook, here's Kali's very first music video.  I can't wait for more!


And here's Kali when he was little.  I took this picture and it is one of my favorites.  Kali has always been outrageously gifted.  I like to tell the story of this time when he was pretty little (maybe 5 or 6) and he made an entire set of miniature wind instruments out of clay.  They were perfect, delicate and just lovely.  This was the day I learned about the piccolo.  My little cousin had constructed one perfectly, showed it to me and explained what it was.  Incredible.

In Need

I've been experiencing a lack of inspiration.  My little notebooks have blank pages.  This poem is reassuring at times like this.



inquiry
      --ntozake shange

my questions concern the subject poetry
is whatever runs out/ whatever digs my guts
til there's no space in myself
cryin wont help/ callin mama wont help
lovers are detours/ no way to assuage this
poem/but in the words & they are deceitful/
images beat me confuse me/ make me want all of you to share me/
&i hide under my bed/


poetry is unavoidable connection/
some people get married/ others join the Church
i carry notebooks/ so i can tell us what happened/
midnight snacks in bed with whoever/ are no compensation/ when
i'm listenin to multitudes of voices/ i consume yr every word
move/

durin the day you are initiated into the holy order
of prospective poems/ i dream in yr voice/ sometimes act
yr fantasies/ i've made them my own/
whatever is here/ is what you've given me/
if it's not enough for you/
give me some more

on the way to get apples, on the way to get milk

Another Anniversary

Twenty years ago on this day our Champ died. Tomorrow most of us will gather at the dells, Champ's main hang-out spot, in the rain, to remember together. It's the together part that matters, at least as much as the remembering.

Last year on this date I posted some elegant videos, pictures and other ruminations about Champ. Please check it out and and join us in remembering.